River
Pasión River
353 km from source to mouth · Guatemala.
GuatemalaFlows into Usumacinta River2nd longest in Guatemala
In numbers
Length
353km
Average flow
320m³/s
Basin
12,156km²
Drop
194m
from 302 m to 108 m
Country
1
The journey
From source to mouth
353 km of river and 5 stops on the way: 2 towns and cities on its banks, dams, bridges and the tributaries that feed it.
- 0 kmAlta Verapaz Departmentat 302 m
- 20 kmChisec17,018 people
- 216 kmLaguneta El Chorro0.4 km²
- 249 kmSayaxché9,100 people
- 264 kmLaguneta Mangal0.4 km²
- 352 kmLaguneta Encerrada0.4 km²
- 353 kmUsumacinta Riverat 108 m
Water level along the river (RiverATLAS; the height is exaggerated). Towns: GeoNames and Wikidata; bridges, dams and tributaries: Wikidata.
River in Guatemala
At the mouth it carries 322 m³/s on average: an Olympic pool every 7.8 seconds. It drops from 302 m to 108 m, 0.5 m per kilometre on average. Its basin covers 12,156 km², about the size of QA. 421,000 people live in it. Highest water: from September to October; lowest: from February to May. No large dam holds it back: it is one of the world's free-flowing rivers.
Where to start
- ChisecLargest city on its banks · 17,018 people
- Mundo Maya International Airport (FRS)Nearest airport with scheduled flights, 130 km from the cityCar hire at GUA airport (Guatemala City)Discover Cars · Affiliate link↗
- On the water4 ferry piers, marinas, boat rentals and boat ramps along the river (OpenStreetMap)
- From February to MarchThe best months to visit
Pasión River, month by month
Highest water: from September to October
Lowest water: from February to May. Best months to visit: from February to March.
From about 110 m³/s in the lowest month to 740 m³/s in the highest. An estimate: the monthly flow is modelled from the lowest and highest months of WaterGAP (RiverATLAS, 1971–2000) and the rain and snow along the river (WorldClim). Dams change the real rhythm. The chip is the average air temperature; below it, the month's rain.
Plan the trip
Plan the trip: boat trips, a bed by the river, a car
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The basin
Pasión River: the basin in numbers
11,933 km² of land send their water to this river. This is what lives on it.
- 421,000people live in the basin
- 35/km²people per km²
- 254maverage altitude of the basin
- 2,208mmof rain a year (basin average)
- 24.6°Caverage air temperature
- 22%protected areas
- 0.1%covered by lakes
What covers the basin
- 73% Forest
- 11% Cropland
- 26% Pasture
- 1% Towns and cities
RiverATLAS (HydroATLAS v1.0, CC BY 4.0): land cover, people, protected areas, glaciers and dams over the whole basin upstream of the mouth.
Along the river
Pasión River: what you find on the way
- 4Ferry piers
From OpenStreetMap, within 1.8 km of the river. Not mapped is not the same as not there.
Cross-checked with our atlases
Pasión River in our other atlases
What our sister atlases know about the waterfalls on this river, the lakes it flows through, the beaches at its mouth, the mountains where it rises and the islands off its mouth.
3lakes on its wayLakeyas
Lakes and reservoirs (3)
Lakes it flows through, by Lakeyas
- Laguneta El Chorrokm 1640.4km²
- Laguneta Mangalkm 2010.4km²
- Laguneta Encerradakm 2680.4km²
Lakeyas is coming soonOpen Lakeyas ↗
From space
The source and the mouth, seen from orbit
Sentinel-2 cloudless 2016 by EOX IT Services GmbH (contains modified Copernicus Sentinel data 2016), CC BY 4.0. The glowing line is the river as drawn by RiverATLAS.
Photos
Pasión River in pictures
Tributaries
Where it flows, and what flows into it
It flows into
Usumacinta River
Mexico560 km6.5 m³/sIn the same basin
Nearby
Rivers nearby
Guatemala43 km340 m³/s199 km awayMopan River
Belize38 km93 m³/s175 km awayMotagua RiverGuatemala486 km310 m³/s261 km awayBelize RiverBelize290 km200 m³/s270 km awayGrijalva RiverMexico480 km2,800 m³/s323 km awayUlúa River
Honduras358 km440 m³/s309 km awayHondo RiverMexico150 km130 m³/s326 km awayPaz River
El Salvador134 km23 m³/s309 km awayWhere these numbers come from
| Name, length, places | Wikidata (Q1590346) · CC0 |
|---|---|
| Course, profile, basin | RiverATLAS v1.0 (HydroATLAS, Linke et al. 2019) · CC BY 4.0 — followed from the source to the mouth given by Wikidata |
| Flow | WaterGAP (RiverATLAS), 1971–2000 · CC BY 4.0 |
| Climate along the river | WorldClim (RiverATLAS), 1970–2000 · CC BY 4.0 |
| Towns, bridges, dams | Wikidata · CC0; GeoNames · CC BY 4.0 |
| Along the river | © OpenStreetMap contributors · ODbL |
| Images | EOX Sentinel-2 cloudless 2016 · CC BY 4.0; Wikimedia Commons |
| Our other atlases | Lakeyas — Wikidata · CC0; © OpenStreetMap contributors · ODbL; GeoNames · CC BY 4.0; HydroLAKES · CC BY 4.0; NOAA OISST |
Every source and licence is on the data sources page.
The family
Do you prefer beaches, lakes, mountains, waterfalls, islands, rivers or canyons?
Same idea, other landscapes: field atlases built on open data, month by month, in seven languages.
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islands
Every island from the sea up: size, sea temperature, ferries and 3D.Coming soonVisit 
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Every river from source to sea: the journey, the flow and the basin in numbers.You are here
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Every canyon cut to scale: depth to the floor, rim and floor temperatures, trails and viewpoints.Coming soonVisit